This application is a 371 of PCT/JP00/02050 filed Mar. 30, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a foamed chocolate and its production process. More practically, it relates to a foamed chocolate which can be foamed by a simple apparatus such as a vertical type mixer without requiring a specified emulsifier and a process for producing the foamed chocolate.
2. Background Art
Recently, it tends to be increased to produce a variety of products with light textures (mouthfeel) by combining chocolates with baked confectionery, for example, biscuits. For the purpose of lightening textures of chocolate products themselves without combining with other confectionery, so-called whipped chocolate, a chocolate in which foams are incorporated into a chocolate product, is also produced. As a method for incorporating foams into a chocolate product, for example, the following methods have been reported: a method comprising steps of decreasing specific gravity by stirring a chocolate and then putting the chocolate under decreased pressure (JP 62-275648 A, JP 63-202341 A); a method comprising steps of decreasing specific gravity by incorporating a compressed gas into a blend of chocolate ingredients and restoring the pressure to be normal (JP 62-58955 A, JP 63-49040 A); a method comprising a step of foaming with emulsifiers (JP 1-144934 A, JP 5-211842A); a method comprising steps of decreasing specific gravity of a blend of chocolate ingredients by mixing foamed shortening and a blend of chocolate ingredients (JP 63-28355 A); a method comprising steps of formulating fats and oils containing a certain amount or more of triglycerides whose constituent fatty acid residues have 58 or more of total carbon atoms in a blend of chocolate ingredients, stabilizing foams incorporated by crystallization of the fats and oils, and thus decreasing the specific gravity of the blend of chocolate ingredients (JP 3-201946 A); and the like.
Further, since a chocolate contains vegetable fats and oils such as cocoa butter quickly melting around the body temperature, there occurs a problem that such a chocolate is easy to be melted in summer time. In order to prevent melting owing to the outside air temperature, high melting point fats, which are not melted at the outside air temperature, are generally added to provide the chocolate with high heat resistance. However, addition of such high melting point fats causes a problem that good mouth melt property, which is an intrinsic property of a chocolate, is deteriorated.
As described above, among the methods for incorporating foams into a blend of chocolate ingredients for the purpose of lightening a chocolate texture (mouthfeel), although those comprising steps of decreasing or increasing pressure for foaming can significantly decrease specific gravity of a chocolate, they require a large scale apparatus and they are thus unsuitable for easy and simple production of a foamed chocolate.
On the other hand, although the foaming methods using specified emulsifiers are easy, the methods require relatively large amounts of emulsifiers to be added to a blend of chocolate ingredients in order to stabilize foams incorporated and, in case of considerably decreasing specific gravity of a blend of chocolate ingredients, oil components in a blend of chocolate ingredients have to be increased (preferably 50% or higher). Further, such methods give intense taste of emulsifiers, especially synthesized emulsifiers, that is generally undesirable.
In case of using a fatty acid ester of polyglycerin with HLB of 7 to 8 as an emulsifier, it is required to whip a chocolate in a temperature range high enough to prevent crystallization of fats and oils of the chocolate itself (generally 35xc2x0 C. or higher). Further, the emulsifier is easily affected with the milk fat solids of a chocolate itself, which results in, for example, difficulty in whipping of a white chocolate, while a black chocolate can be whipped. Moreover, it is difficult to completely dissolve the fats and oils because of the emulsifier of such a system which has HLB around the middle.
On the other hand, in case of using a fatty acid ester with a polyglycerin with a low HLB, fats and oils of a chocolate itself should be crystallized and, since the crystals are formed, temperature control becomes difficult after whipping. Although such a type of an emulsifier is hardly affected with the milk fat solids of the chocolate, it is affected with fats and oils to be used for a chocolate and an operation becomes complicated.
In case for producing a foamed chocolate by mixing foamed shortening, it is required to increase an amount of the shortening to be added in order to decrease specific gravity, resulting in such disadvantages that the amount of oils in the chocolate is increased as well as that the chocolate tends to have oily mouthfeel when being mixed with the foams of the shortening since foaming is performed only with the previously foamed shortening in which foams are covered only with fats and oils.
Further, in the other method disclosed in JP 3-201946 A, i.e., a method comprising steps of formulating fats and oils containing a certain amount or more of triglycerides whose constituent fatty acid residues have 58 or more of total carbon atoms in a blend of chocolate ingredients, a preferred fat and oil composition is that containing a specific amount of mixed acid triglycerides which contains at least one residue of saturated fatty acid residues having 20 to 24 carbon atoms and at least one unsaturated acid fatty acid residue having 16 to 22 carbon atoms in a molecule, whose constituent fatty acids are saturated fatty acids having 20 to 24 carbon atoms and unsaturated fatty acids having 16 to 22 carbon atoms present in a specified ratio. However, such fats and oils do not exist so much in nature and therefore it is required to carry out interesterification of fat and oil raw materials so that such a fat and oil composition can be realized and further to carry out fractionation to obtain fractionated middle melting point portions and subsequently, production of such a fat and oil composition itself becomes extremely complicated. Further, being in a melted state, if a fully hydrogenated oils of tri-saturated triglycerides are added to a blend of chocolate ingredients in place of those fats and oils, the melting point of the fats and oils in the blend of chocolate ingredients is increased to make whipping impossible.
On the other hand, as a method for providing a chocolate with high heat resistance, it is general to add high melting point fats, however it results in a disadvantage that mouth melt property, which is one of intrinsic properties of a chocolate, is deteriorated. That is because high melting point fats remain in the mouth for a long period of time without being melted owing to the increase of the melting point of the fat and oil themselves by addition of the high melting point fats and more particularly owing to the increase of the content of fats in solid around a body temperature or at a temperature slightly higher than the body temperature attributed to the effect of the high melting point fats.
The present inventors have studied intensively and, as a result, they have found that a foamed chocolate can be obtained without resort to any special apparatuses or emulsifiers. Thus, the present invention has been completed.
That is, the present invention provides a foamed chocolate comprising formulating an oil mixture comprising edible fats and oils with tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid; a process for producing such a foamed chocolate comprising melting the crystals of an oil mixture comprising edible fats and oils with tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid by heating, cooling the oil mixture to precipitate the crystals of the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid, adding the oil mixture in such a state to a chocolate, and whipping the resulting chocolate; and an oil and fat composition comprising crystals of tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid dispersed in low melting point-fats and oils having a melting point lower than that of the glycerides.
The edible fats and oils used in the present invention include, for example, vegetable fats and oils such as rapeseed oil, soybean oil, sunflower seed oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, rice bran oil, corn oil, safflower oil, olive oil, kapok oil, sesame oil, evening primrose oil, palm oil, shea butter, sal butter, cacao butter, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and the like; and processed fats and oils produced by hydrogenation of these fats and oils, fractionation of them, interesterification of them and the like. The vegetable fats and oils are excellent in taste as compared with animal fats and oils such as fish oils. It is preferable to use fats and oils in liquid state at 20xc2x0 C. When an oil mixture comprising fats and oils in liquid state at 20xc2x0 C. and tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid is added to a blend of chocolate ingredients (a mixture of chocolate liquor and other ingredients) and whipped, since the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid keeps fluidity even in crystallized state in a wide temperature range, the workability is improved. Alternatively, it is preferable to use hard butter, for example, cacao butter, tempered type fats and oils such as substitutes of cacao butter and the like, trans-type hard butter containing elaidic acid as a constituent fatty acid, as well as coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and lauric type fats and oils such as their hydrogenated oils and the like. The heat resistance of a foamed chocolate is improved by obtaining the foamed chocolate by adding an oil mixture containing a hard butter and tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid to a chocolate texture and whipping the resulting mixture.
The tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid of the present invention can generally be obtained by hydrogenating fats and oils containing erucic acid as to have iodine value 1 or lower and the melting point at 60xc2x0 C. or higher. (Saturated behenic acid can be obtained by hydrogenating unsaturated erucic acid). As fats and oils containing 30% or higher of erucic acid are rapeseed oil with a high erucic acid concentration, mustard oil, cramb oil, uzenbaren oil, and the rapeseed oil with high erucic acid concentration is preferable owing to easiness to be obtained. Also, the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides mean triglycerides containing constituent fatty acids all of which are saturated fatty acids.
It is preferred in the present invention to use the edible fats and oils together with the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid in the ratio of 85:15 to 95:5. If the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides are more than the above described ratio, the fluidity of the oil mixture is deteriorated and not only handling of the mixture but also whipping property tend to be deteriorated at the time of mixing with a chocolate texture. On the other hand, if the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides are less than the ratio, the whipping property is deteriorated at the time of mixing with a chocolate texture.
For adding the oil mixture containing edible fats and oils as well as tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid to a blend of chocolate ingredients, it is preferable to add the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides at their final concentration in the blend of chocolate ingredients of 0.5 to 2%, more preferably 1 to 2%. If the addition amount is higher than this range, the melting point of the fats and oils becomes too high and, although whipping can be performed at first, the viscosity sharply increased during the whipping step and some time solidification takes place depending on the temperature at the time of whipping. Further, even if whipping can be performed, although being provided with high heat resistance, the resulting chocolate becomes considerably inferior in mouth melt property and its product value as confectionery is considerably lowered. In contrast with that, if the addition amount is lower than the above range, the specific gravity of the chocolate is not decreased.
The specific gravity of a foamed chocolate in the present invention is 0.5 to 0.9. If the specific gravity is higher than 0.9, the chocolate texture is same as those of conventional chocolates and light texture can not be obtained. In contrast with that, if the specific gravity is lower than 0.5, the chocolate texture is significantly lightened, however the fluidity of the chocolate is eliminated owing to the rather high quantity of foams incorporated and thus the workability after whipping is undesirably much deteriorated. Incidentally, the specific gravity is measured by filling a container with a foamed chocolate, measuring the weight of the content, and dividing the measured weight by the weight of the water with which the container is filled.
In the present invention, it is preferable to use fats and oils produced by completely melting an oil mixture containing edible fats and oils with tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid and then cooling the temperature of the oil mixture to 30 to 45xc2x0 C. to precipitate crystals and using the resulting oil mixture in cooled state. Owing to that, a fat and oil composition in which crystals of tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid are dispersed in low melting point fats and oils having lower melting points than those of lot the glycerides can be obtained and it is suitable to be used as an additive for foaming. Using an apparatus capable of kneading an oil mixture, e.g. an Onreitor(trademark), the oil mixture containing edible fats and oils with tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid is cooled after it is completely melted to 30 to 45xc2x0 C. and kept cooled to produce the oil mixture. When using a method other than the above, for example, a method comprising steps of simply keeping the oil mixture at a room temperature and then gradually cooling the oil mixture, the size of the crystals becomes too large and therefore the oil mixture becomes unsuitable to incorporate foams into a chocolate. In contrast with that, if rapid cooling is carried out using a Combinator(trademark), the resulting oil mixture in this case also becomes unsuitable to incorporate foams into a chocolate supposedly attributed to the difference of the crystal systems.
In the present invention, an oil mixture containing edible fats and oils with tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid is required to be whipped at a temperature at which the crystals of the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid are not melted. Especially, it is required for the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid in crystallized state and owing to that, since the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid do not mutually affect, for example, cocoa butter or the like in the blend of chocolate ingredients, they do not deteriorate mouth melt property of a chocolate. However, when the oil mixture is used in completely melted state, not only the amount of crystals necessary to carry out whipping is insufficient to decrease the specific gravity of a chocolate but also the tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid mutually affect the other fats and oils, for example, cocoa butter in a blend of chocolate ingredients to increase the melting points of the fats and oils and, resulting in the finally obtained chocolate with considerably inferior mouth melt property even though the heat resistance of the chocolate is increased. Hence, the product temperature of a blend of chocolate ingredients is required to be adjusted within a range from 25xc2x0 C. to 40xc2x0 C. and the temperature of the oil mixture containing edible fats and oils with tri-saturated fatty acid glycerides containing behenic acid has to be adjusted the same and they are mixed and then whipped. Incidentally, in the case of using a tempering type blend of chocolate ingredients, it is possible to carry out mixing at a temperature, for example, 31xc2x0 C., at which tempering of a chocolate subjected to tempering is not broken, and then to carry out whipping.
A chocolate of the present invention includes any chocolates; a sweet chocolate, a milk chocolate, a black chocolate, a white chocolate and the like, in terms of blending of ingredients and also includes those produced using other fats and oils in place of some or entire amount of cacao butter, especially using a cacao butter substitute (hard butter). Any conventionally known chocolates may be usable. The content of a raw material chocolate in a foamed chocolate is preferably 60% or higher.